


Ashes to Ashes

by NervousAsexual



Series: Whumptober 2020 [10]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Affection, Blood Loss, Magic, Mild Gore, Robbery, Silt Striders, anticipated death of a pet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:07:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26974903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAsexual/pseuds/NervousAsexual
Summary: "Dusty's not for sale. She's not in traveling shape, doesn't have a lot of time left. Wouldn't be much good to you.""Then what's it hurt you to sell her?" The reaver put a hand on the pommel of his sword. "I'm asking you to name a price."
Series: Whumptober 2020 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960987
Kudos: 4
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Ashes to Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober prompt #10--blood loss

Revus Sarvani whistled softly as he worked, both to entertain himself as he made the repetitive stitches in the armor and to let Dusty know he was still there. She forgot sometimes--it was how he knew the end was getting closer--and if she thought she was alone she'd give a moaning howl and rub her forelimbs raw until he came around where she could see.

He knew it was getting late, although the ash from Red Mountain made determining the sun's position difficult. He would finish the second bracer, heat up some ash yam stew over the fire, and perhaps read for a while before retiring for the night to Dusty's carriage.

As he was rubbing the bracer down with wax he heard the distinctive clank of someone in bonemold armor approaching. He looked up and saw two reavers, one in bonemold and one in chitin, approaching from the south.

This was unusual; reavers rarely strayed this close to Tel Mithrin. Typically the most dangerous things to wander past were the ash spawn, and he and Dusty were both fairly resistant to their flames.

He thought back over what goods he had on him. Very little. In addition to his stores of food and water he had the single finished bracer, a handful of lockpicks, a few assorted potions, the child-sized stone with the bronze band that he'd found outside of Kagrumez, and no more than five or six hundred septims. Whatever it was they wanted out of him they probably weren't going to get it.

"Well, well," said the one in bonemold armor. "What have we here?"

"That's what I want to know," said the one in chitin. He looked barely old enough to swing a blade. "Ugly-lookin' thing."

"Can't help my face." Revus put the bracer aside and got up to stretch.

"Wasn't talking about you."

"It's a silt strider, you fetcher," the leader snapped. "You sound like a damned outlander."

"Probably haven't ever seen one in person, have you?" Revus turned to the one in chitin. "Most of 'em died when Red Mountain went up. Not very many around anymore."

"Used to be the fastest way to get around Vvardenfell." A distant, almost fond look passed over the leader's face. "She run many routes? Doesn't look familiar but it has been a year or two."

"No. I brought her here as a cocoon." The ebony greatsword at the reaver's hip caught his eye. "Are you here to trade? I don't have much but if you see something interesting..."

"I sure have." But the reaver's eyes hadn't strayed from Dusty. "How much for the old girl?"

"Dusty's not for sale. She's not in traveling shape, doesn't have a lot of time left. Wouldn't be much good to you."

"Then what's it hurt you to sell her?" The reaver put a hand on the pommel of his sword. "I'm asking you to name a price."

Revus' own hand strayed to his side, ensuring the dagger was still here. "I'm sorry. I raised her up and now I'm going to stay with her 'til she passes. It's nothing to do with you."

"Come on, now. Everybody has a price."

"I think perhaps you'd better leave."

Until this moment an easy smile had rested on the reaver's face. Now the smile vanished. "I'm trying to play nice, old man. I don't have to give you a choice in the matter."

"I appreciate that. I'm choosing to say no."

The reaver rolled his shoulders and head in a dramatic sigh. "Why does it always go like this? I should've stuck to picking pockets in Windhelm."

Before the words had faded in the air his sword was drawn and swinging for Revus' neck.

The blade wasn't fast enough. Revus ducked the blow and swept out with one foot, sending the one in chitin armor crashing to the ground. He pulled his own dagger and brought it up just in time to block the greatsword's second swing. It took both hands to hold back the weight of it. His eyes flicked from one reaver to the other to Dusty to the campfire. He dropped his blade and rolled back.

The reaver stumbled forward, overbalanced by his own weapon, and Revus struck him in the back of the knee with the pommel of his sword. He fell heavily, missing the fire by less than an inch.

The second reaver was getting up now and Revus took a handful of embers and flung them into his face. The reaver screamed and flailed, dropping his own dagger. Revus ran at him and pushed him hard with his shoulder, closer to the edge of the dock. Now the reaver was striking him with the heels of his hands but almost nothing pierced through the adrenaline. He shoved the reaver's chin up and struck him hard in the throat with a fist, and as the reaver shrieked again he backed him over the edge of the cliff.

"You godsdamned n'wah!"

He rolled away from the cliff, faintly hoping that the reaver would charge blindly and follow his companion, but this one wasn't so easily taken down. The greatsword gleamed in the firelight, discarded into the ashes, and the reaver drew a one-handed blade.

No shield, Revus thought, and deflected the blow with enough time to slice open the reaver's hand at the wrist. The reaver screamed but didn't let go of the sword. Revus ducked his free arm and came up behind him, hooking his own sword arm against the mer's throat and putting all his weight into tipping him backward. Somehow the reaver kept his balance, stumbling back step after step after step, and Revus switched his dagger to his non-dominant hand, and just as he was about to tear open the reaver's throat someone drove a dagger into his side to the hilt.

As the reaver in bonemold threw him off he caught a glimpse of the one in chitin. Somehow he'd kept hold of his dagger even while clinging to the sheer face of the cliff.

He struck one of the food crates hard and it knocked the air from his lungs. He tried to get up but struggled to get his legs under him.

"He cut me!" the reaver in bonemold screamed, and the last thing he saw was the heavily armored boot coming toward his face.

* * *

"Find anything?"

"Some weird rock thing. Might be able to get a few gold out of it. Not much else."

"Shame. Get those crates loaded. We gotta go."

Revus opened his eyes to a grey, swimming sky and a moaning wail from Dusty. He was aware of bleeding but unsure about the wound. He could feel his pulse in every inch of his body.

A reaver passed by, did a double-take at him, then turned back. "Hey, guess he's still alive after all. Want me to put an arrow through his eye?"

The one in bonemold approached. His heavily bandaged hand hung at his side.

"I don't think so," he said. "Let him squirm."

"Are you sure? Because that seems like a good way to..."

"Look at him, for Sheogorath's sake. His guts are coming out. He ain't gonna do anything to us." He glanced over at Revus. "Much as you'd like to, huh?"

It was all he could do to keep breathing. He stared back.

"Go on and get that food loaded. I'm going to get the strider ready to go."

Revus spat out a mouthful of blood. "Don't."

That got a laugh.

"You lay one finger on her and I swear I will..."

"Will what? Cut my hand off? You already tried, remember?" He turned back to the other reaver. "Now get moving before the strider kicks off too."

He wasn't shivering, though he didn't know how. It was bone-achingly cold. He was godsawfully tired. He tried to pull himself to his hands and knees and fell within seconds, gasping for breath and holding his hands to the bloody, gory mess on his side.

He took a moment, trying to calm himself, and then dragged himself forward a few inches through the ash.

"What does one of those things even eat, anyway?" asked the younger reaver.

"Who cares? You heard what he said. It's old. It's gonna kick off soon anyway. I'm not wasting food on it."

He moved such a small distance it seemed pointless to keep going. Dusty howled again. He kept going.

"Is it gonna do that the entire time? Sounds like a troll in heat."

"Oh, for the love of... stop whining. And knock off that whistling, too."

"I'm not whistling."

"Well, it's obviously not him, so what... oh no."

There was a whistling, Revus realized. It sounded like the wind. It wasn't the wind.

"Get in the strider. Now."

"What in oblivion is that thing?"

"I said go!"

Their footsteps pounded past him without pausing, thumping up the wooden bridge. He raised his eyes just enough to see them disappear into the carriage.

"Would you get this thing moving?"

"I'm working on it, I'm..."

At that moment the whistling overpowered the sounds of the reaver and swept past him.

Whether it was the blood loss or not he wasn't sure, but he couldn't tell what it was they were running from. It looked like an ashstorm, swirling and kicking up ash. He closed his eyes as it passed and listened to the howling. Some of it was Dusty. Some was the ash creature. Most was the reavers.

He kept his eyes closed until the screaming stopped, and he heard the thing approaching him. He waited for it to kill him, too; how was he going to fight back? Then it jerked away from him and he felt the crackle of magicka as it whirled away. The smell of brimstone filled the air, and the snap of electricity. One of the Telvanni? Whatever it was fighting had drawn its complete attention.

And Dusty, without stopping, howled.

He summoned up what was left of his strength and dragged himself to the dock. He needed to get in front where she could see, she'd be alright after that, but he knew he'd never make it.

Instead he crawled up into the carriage. There was no indication the reavers had ever been there but ash a foot thick stood all through the carriage. It crept into his eyes and lungs. It cradled him as he fell against the sensitive tissue at the front of the carriage. Dusty wailed.

"It's okay, girl," he whispered to her. He put both hands against her flesh and stroked it gently. "I'm here. I'm not going to leave you."

At his touch the wailing stopped and he tried to raise his voice. "There's a good girl. I'm still here." The ash dampened the sound inside and outside the carriage; he was exhausted and relieved and afraid. He let his forehead touch her so she'd know he was there. It was so dark already. Dusty got restless after nightfall. She liked to know where he was. He would stay with her, get her calmed down, and then he'd find her something to eat. He just needed a little rest first.

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispered to her, and he drifted off into the ash.


End file.
